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Topics:
#books #crafts #education #film #living #music #numbers #politics #python-
Evolution and identity
A recent study investigates the relation between evolution acceptance and evolution knowledge using largish numbers of students (mostly enrolled in biology related university programs) from many European countries. The authors are European researchers from many universities, supported by EU funding.
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Can WORDLE be always solved?
In the past months the Twitter has been overtaken by stacks of colored boxes. It is the fault of a new words-game: WORDLE. Free and with a minimalistic design the game has received a well deserved attention.
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Geographic centers of Romanian counties
For those lacking travel destinations I have a map with geographical centers (centroids) of each Romanian county. For the moment only latitude and longitude to be checked in Google Maps.
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The bilingual brain
Have you ever felt that people change vocal timbre and tone when changing language? If you are like me, you have also gotten sometimes annoyed because people seem to get warmer when changing to their native language or logical and assertive when speaking in their second language. After listening to the course Language and the Mind (chapter 23 on bilingualism) I learned that similar phenomena have been documented by several noted researchers and used as useful tools to further explore the intimate link between language and the mind.
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Vaccine efficacy redux
In a previous post I analyzed the data from the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines trials. Recent data from the romanian authorities allows us to estimate values for the vaccine efficacy which are significantly lower than what was measured in the trials.
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On drones, helicopters and Blackbird
In a previouis post I discussed the physics of hovering drones and helicopters. My interest in the physics of propellers was reignited by video discussing the possibility of a wind-powered vehicle to move faster than the wind (in the downwind direction).
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The interviewer's solution
Recently the “secretary problem” came to my attention. It is extremely interesting given that it can have practical applications for many real life decisions and the solution seems counterintuitive to me.
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Quantifying self, browser edition
Some time ago I modified a Chrome extension to track the time spent on individual web pages. During the past year data for 80K visits to different pages on 3982 domains has been registered, together with the time actively spent on them.
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Politics on the Appalachian Trail
Inspired by the observation
Out of the roughly 2200 miles, 445.6 are in red states, not counting the 20 miles on the border between West Virginia and Virginia. Dare I go county by county in the blue states and get a 2021 political map of the AT?
— Codruța Morari (@CodrutaMorari) November 24, 2020I have decided to play a bit more with
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Vaccine efficacy
As far as I understand the numbers for the phase III trials for Covid-19 vaccines can be interpreted as follows.
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My preferred party - The New Greens
In two weeks there will be elections in Romania. Unfortunately, or fortunately, it is easy to choose the best out of multiple bad choices. Still, it is unpleasant not to have a party or, at least, a candidate one could wholeheartedly trust and support.
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On drones and helicopters
After playing a bit with a DJI Mavic Air drone I started to wonder what are the differences between the physics of drones and helicopters. One particular question is which one would be better to hover with given weight. Also how long can a drone and/or helicopter fly (hover)?
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The Reagans
Some thoughts concerning the documentary The Reagans from Showtime.
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Votes lost by Biden in 2020
Upon discovering some data stores pertaining to the 2020 American presidential elections I could not resist playing with the data and with python visualization tools.
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A library of 3D models
Some time ago I got access to a 3D printer. After learning to use the Blender software I put together several decorative 3D models. Some are even printed.
Tiles for a (imperfect) Penrose tiling
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What to do for education with 50M dollars?
Recently I saw the new Raspberry Pi 400 personal computer and wondered how could be used in education.
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The Distance Between Me and Me - Nina Cassian
The Distance Between Me and Me is a documentary featuring a poet somewhat emblematic for the communist Romania. As a collection of scenes with communists and their own words the film is quite entertaining, but not if you look for historical objectivity.
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Copy in Python
While there are probably thousands of book and web pages dealing with the issue after yet another take I just need a short reminder: there are three ways to copy an object in Python.
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Listen to them
In the past few months I have been seen more and more examples of virulent racist, sexist and anti-LGBTQ reactions in the Romanian press. My unpleasant surprise was to find such attitudes in a part of the Romanian society which I thought shared my ideas on politics and society. One can find many educated, well-paid, westward-looking young people showing a profound misunderstanding concerning the problems of minorities (of all kinds). It is really sad to read on channels I used to trust climato-sceptic, anti-feminist and anti-“cancel-culture” articles, or to hear that people I thought to be the future of Romania expressing homophobic or anti-vaccination ideas.
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The Social Dilemma
Some thoughts concerning the documentary The social dilemma streaming on Netflix.
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Quantity has a quality of her own
By talking to a few hundred senators Cicero was able to start a war. Luther has done it by nailing a piece of paper to a door and Hearst with a journal with maybe 100000 readers. Radio and television have been considered big revolutions in opinion forming. It is thus reasonable to wonder if the changes caused by social media are something new, different from the past. On the one hand the past shows a more or less gradual increase in the speed and strength of information dissemination and opinion-forming. The present follows this quantitative rule but, on the other hand, it could also be qualitatively different.
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Voters and pyramid of ages
Some Fermi estimates of population structure suggest that 2020 is a turning point in Romanian politics.
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Good to eat
Breakfast: egg-avocado toast
- buttered toast
- spreadable cheese
- half avocado mashed
- tomato slices
- feta cheese
- bacon rashes
- fried egg
Stack the ingredients in this order.
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Frenchies?
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maggie and milly and molly and may
…
went down to the beach (to play one day)
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